Short Story: Creative Writing:Tough Times
Lauren Leiss
6th period
“Why does this have to happen to me?” Nicole wondered as she loaded her last bag into
her grandmother’s car. “What did I do to deserve this?” she questioned herself as she stumbled
inside to say her last goodbye’s to her parents. “Goodbye Mama, Papa, I’ll see you soon during
the break. Only in a few weeks. I love you.” She leans over to hug her mom. “Papa, when will you
be back from your trip to Chicago?” “I will fly back in on Tuesday night. I won’t be back until
about 2:00 a.m. though.” Jackson responded. “Ok. I’ll call before school on Wednesday then for
sure. Nicole squeezes him goodbye and steps back. “Ready to go kiddo?” Asked her
grandmother. “Yes Ma’am.” “Go out to the car and I’ll be there in a minute.” “Ok.” Nicole said as
she walked out the door. “Now listen here you two,” her grandma leaned over to say, “I hope that
you both can work this out and still stay together so that Nicole can live here again soon. Love
you both, Annamarie, Jackson.” And she slipped out the door.
When they got in the car, and hit the highway, Nicole asked “Grandma, why does it have
to be like this? Why did it have to be a divorce? All the other kids at my school had parents who
are still together. Why was it me?” Her grandma sat quiet for a minute then finally replied “I
don’t know Nicole, I just don’t know.” They both sat there in silence for about 20 minutes just
thinking about what their new lives were about to change into. In her head, Nicole said to
herself “I hope the kids at my new school can accept me.”
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Two days had passed and Nicole was ready to go to Boston Coast Academy and meet her
fellow class mates. In her head, the whole morning she kept telling her that they will accept her
and become friends with her. When Nicole hopped down the stairs, her grandfather
immediately asked “Your lookin’ might fine and all grown up my dear.” “Thanks Grandpa.”
Nicole chimed. “You ready for breakfast sweetie?” questioned her grandmother. “Yes Ma’am.
Thank You” “Such a polite young thing.” “You don’t want to miss the bus sweetie pie. It comes in
5 minutes. Better hurry up and get out there!” piped her grandfather. “Thank you Grandpa. I will
see both later! Love you!” “GOOD LUCK TODAY” both her grandparents yelled to her. “Thanks”
she replied and was headed off to the bus.
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When Nicole arrived, she marched right in with plenty of confidence and headed
straight to room 7-003 in the west wing. She was the first one to arrive, even before the teacher,
Mr. Anderson. When he arrived, Nicole asked “Excuse me, are you Mr. Anderson that teaches
Chemistry?” He replies with “Why yes I am young lady. And what might your name be?” “I am
Nicole Spears. I have you for first period. I am a transfer student who went to Richard Middle
School. Named after the former principle. I am currently living with my grandparents. I will
transfer back soon, so this is only temporary.” “Well, thank you for your little shpele. Why don’t
you step inside and we will set you up for today and make the most of the situation.” Mr.
Anderson said as he stepped through the door. As he put down his coffee mug, he questions
“How long will you be staying here do you suppose?” putting on his lab coat. “I actually do not
know but I suppose about a month or so...” she responds stuttering. “Umm... Ok. This will be a
pleasure having you in my chemistry class then Ms. Spears.” “Agreed Mr. Anderson. I can’t wait.”
“Well then we should probably set you up then for class because the bell rings in...” he checks
his watch... “Oh great!! In five minutes!!! Let’s get going.” And they were off to work.
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As everyone filed into their seats, Mr. Anderson made some last minute adjustments to
the day’s activity. The final bell rang and everyone turned their attention to Nicole. “Class, this is
Nicole Spears. She is a transfer student from Richard Middle. She is also only temporary here so
let’s show her how the Whales work here. Nicole, why don’t you go and sit next to Kyle for
now.” “Ok? Great! Now class, on the back of your chairs you will notice...” As his voice drifted
off. “Hey. I’m Kyle. You’re new around here so why don’t I show you around at lunch, like all
your classes and stuff. Great.” And his attention was turned back to the front. All to herself she
thought that “maybe this would go better than I thought” cheerfully. Focusing back to the
experiment, the students had to combine the baking soda with the vinegar. “This is a partner
assignment so work with your shoulder partner” Mr. Anderson gave as a direction and everyone
was beginning the experiment.
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As the bell rang for 2nd period, so Nicole headed for Chorus. When she arrived, she
explained to Ms. Taylor about her parents deciding if they were going split because of their busy
lives and all that stuff. After they set her up, Nicole introduced herself to the class and
participated in the class and went to lunch to meet with Kyle. When she arrived, Kyle asked
“Ready to take a tour?” “I’m ready if you are.” She said smiling. As she walked around and
listened to Kyle explain about the classes, which teachers are good, which one’s are old and
mean, and all about the school itself. By the time that they were working their way to the
cafeteria, the whole ground shook and all the students’ screamed. Nicole questioned “WHAT IS
HAPPENING???!!!” Kyle responded “EARTHQUAKE! THIS NEVER HAPPENS!” As everyone
screamed with terror, half of the kids hid for cover and the other half was just running around
yelling all over the place. After it was over, all the kids got to go home early and take the rest of
the day off along with the teachers. When she got home, she explained what had happened to
her grandparents. “I am going to bed for now. Can you get me before dinner please?” Nicole
asked. “Sure. I’ll get you in 2 hours.” Her grandma responded. “Thanks. Love you” and she was
off to bed.
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As the next few days passed, Wednesday approached and Nicole’s father was supposed
to fly home. In Chicago, the planes and airport had been snowed in so her dad wouldn’t arrive
for about another 24 hours. When she called him, it rang for about 2 seconds and said that the
line was disconnected. Nicole got upset, calmed down, and road to school. During lunch, she
started hanging out with a girl named Kathryn and eventually, they started hanging out after
school, doing homework together, and just doing what friends do. Over the next week,
everything just fell into routine. Nicole would wake up, get ready for school, go to school, do
school related stuff, go home, eat dinner, do homework, go to bed, REPEAT. Except for the
weekends. That’s when the fun began for the three people in that house. After two weeks of the
change and routine, they all decided to go to a museum for the day. They went to the museum of
prehistoric and extinct animals. The trio got to see dinosaurs, fish, alligators, birds, and many
more amazing creatures. Nicole and her grandparents all went out for lunch and then spent the
rest of the day at the zoo.
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A month after her parents were almost through with their little argument, Nicole spent a
week at her normal house during spring break. She got to see her parents, her cat Houdini, her 3
month old puppy named Patches, and just hang out with her family. Everything went smooth as
could be. As the week came to an end, the three had a huge meal together. When Nicole went
back, her teachers let the students have the week off from homework, and only do a mild
amount of work in class. All of the students thought it was amazing. Nicole made many more
friends by the time the quarter ended. They would hanging out every other day and over the
weekend too.
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As the good news came around that her parents were staying together, everyone
celebrated. Even though that it was good news, that meant that Nicole would have to leave her
new friends and teachers. This was very hard for her. There were tears, sadness, and all other
sorts of the blues going around. On her last day, she realized how much she is going to miss the
new people she met. They all left and finally got back into their family routine.